Limitless

The Order of the Phoenix

Shit! I hadn't meant to push him but I didn't know if I could tell him about my missions, I didn't know anything about what was actually going on here, why Dumbledore had called me back.

Anger blossomed in my chest.

Everything was fine before. Yeah it was difficult being on my own but this was just a mess. I was doing my own thing and keeping me hidden meant that we didn't have to deal with opening these old wounds again. It was so unfair. I felt a bit immature for feeling this way but I was right and I had been blindsided.

I jumped into the shower fiercely scrubbing my body. I let the scalding water rush over me. I washed my hair, a luxury I hadn't had in a while. I tried hard not to inspect my body too much. 

Dumbledore had healed what was wrong inside me but my skin bore the marks of the deeper injuries.

I strode into the room, still angry as hell. Some of my clothes were neatly folded and placed on the edge of the bed. There was no Sirius in sight.I dressed efficiently, thankful to be out of the pink top and back into my dark jeans, boots and t-shirt. I looked at myself in the mirror, my hair hung limply around my face. I pointed my wand at it and a warm jet of air began to blow through it. My skin was pale but I couldn't do too much about that. I gave myself another once over and, before I could change my mind, I strode out the door into the passage. 

Something smelled delicious. I hadn't eaten in days, my stomach growled loudly. I made my way down the stairs towards the kitchen. As I neared I could hear voices talking happily. I suddenly became nervous and stopped just short of the door.

"Don't worry," Sirius's voice said behind me. He placed a hand on the small of my back, the way he used to. I looked up into his face. He looked kinder than he had in the bathroom. "I'm right here."

I opened my mouth to speak, to tell him how scared I was, how much I didn't want to do this, mostly I wanted to tell him how much I appreciated that he had said that but the words didn't come. He looked down at me a small smile appearing as though he already knew what I couldn't say.

We walked through the door together. The voices dried up. The kitchen was full of people, most of whom I knew, some I did not. The long table in the center was full of food. Sirius steered me towards two open chairs next to each other. He pulled a chair out for me, the scrape it made on the floor sounded like the loudest sound ever made because the room was so silent.

I sat and looked out at everyone. The Marauders, Lily and Alice smiled up at me meekly, but there were other faces obviously not too happy to see me.

"Uh..." I began eloquently, "Hi everyone."

There were some nods, some return greetings but from the other side of the table, a voice spoke angrily.

"Back from the dead..." It was Marlene. She had hated me at school and it seemed her feelings hadn't changed.

"Stop it Marlene." Sirius said, a viper next to me. I didn't need him to stick up for me but I appreciated it nonetheless.

"Marlene, have you been well?" my voice strong despite my vibrating insides.

She didn't respond, instead looked over at Emmeline. But I was surprised to see that she didn't look as enraged as Marlene.